


Noncompliance

by loyce



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Epistolary, F/F, M/M, post jurassic world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-10 20:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5599879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loyce/pseuds/loyce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The survivors of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna before Jurassic World opened, during, and after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noncompliance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reeby10](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeby10/gifts).



> For reeby10. Your Jurassic World prompt intrigued me so I hope you enjoy.

When the Masrani Global Corporation started to build their new Jurassic World monstrosity, one of the contractors found a cache of old gift shop supplies and retro Jurassic Park t-shirts became, as Billy described them, ‘a thing’. In that first year no less than a dozen students filed into Alan’s lecture theatre sporting its iterations across their chests.

Alan surveyed the group, who somehow looked even younger than last year. There were more than he expected; probably rumours and “dinosaur spoilers” reaching the internet of their latest bad idea. 

He waited as they settled and grew silent. “This course,” he began, “is taught in part by myself, Dr Alan Grant, and in part by my husband, Dr Billy Brennan. I will be focusing exclusively on breakthroughs in physiological and behavioural patterns as discernible from physical remains of species from the Mesozoic Era. Old rocks, in essence, and as such there is a physical component to this course which will have you demonstrate understanding of the methodology of _acquiring_ said “old rocks”. Dr Brennan will be focussing on current breakthrough technology that,” he smiled in Billy’s direction, “I am not allowed to name lest I break it.” 

“Again,” interrupted Billy. “In case you break it _again_.” 

“Again,” Alan conceded before he turned back to the room, his fleeting smile now gone. 

Alan leaned forward again towards the lectern microphone. “What this course will not cover, by either of us, is discussion of Isla Nublar, Isla Sorna or any movie monster created by InGen.” He looked across the room at the students, as if the wide-eyed class weren’t already hanging on his every word, “And as far as I’m concerned, there are only seventeen people in the world who can pull off a Jurassic Park shirt. The rest just wear it in bad taste.” 

Alan straightened up again. “If you have a problem with anything I’ve explained then I believe you still have a week to drop the class without penalty.” 

~*~

The company’s tender invite would have been innocuous on Lex Murphy’s desk, nestled in among FedEx envelopes and spiral bound tomes, but for the garish red stamp of a T-Rex’s torso across the bag. Looking closer Lex noted Mr DNA stamped alongside, like some kind of hideous Clippy Venn diagram; the perfect inadvertent overlap between ignorance and a god complex. She sat back in her chair, considering; there had been a rumour about this, of course. Palaeontology was a small field and the consultant brought on for the first park had, at some point, apparently fallen victim to one of his pronounced lizard monsters, and so a replacement had needed to be found. He had never been a student of Alan or Billy – of course – but he knew a friend, who knew a friend, and so she knew there were operations heading onto the island to capture and kill what couldn’t be captured. Alan had been really quiet after he warned her, his hand tight on Billy’s arm. 

Lex ripped open the bag. 

As CEO of LexCorp – sorry, Ideograph now – the offer would have already have passed through many departments before it reached her desk and been vetted by almost a dozen people. Lex scanned the summary document inside; details of the request for custom software to track, provide real time monitoring and security across a custom secure network, one that included RFID for up to 10,000 people, firmware for all physical equipment (rides, Lex noted, to herself), entertainment and education provisions, and GPS trackers for up to two thousand “assets” among other to be finalised details. A billion dollar opportunity. 

_Ten thousand people._

_Two thousand “assets”._

One island with nowhere to run. 

Lex considered the all but gilded invite; she even tried to be offended but couldn’t quite manage it. If she were project managing she too would have tried to draw in a previous Jurassic Park survivor turned Silicon Valley darling and have her global organisation provide their best software and hardware. She would have invited said survivor to the première, had her stand on the stage and accept applause as they promised that Lex Murphy herself had worked to prevent tragedy from striking twice on this island. 

Thumbing a button on her watch, Lex said, “Sarah, can you have the head of departments for all of the teams involved with the…“Jurassic World” contract brought to my office, please? About an hour from now, if you could. Oh, and I’ll need HR be sent up ASAP and check Legal’s calendars for this afternoon. Thanks.” 

Lex’s grandfather had found out the hard way that some things weren’t worth the cost at any price, and she wasn’t about to let her company be part of this. 

~*~

“Dr Ian Malcolm?” 

“Yes,” Ian said, barely glancing at the man, “If you’re delivering something then I hope you have a pen.” 

“No signature required, sir. I’m from Masrani Global Corporation and I’ve been requested to come here today to talk to you and offer you something at my employer’s behest.” 

Ian finally stopped and properly looked at the man, noted his ramrod straight posture and that he was a good two wary steps away from the front door.

“They’ve actually done it and now they’re going to open it again, aren’t they?” Ian didn’t recognise his own voice, how flat and angry the words came out. 

“If I could come inside I’ve been authorised to tell you…” 

“You can tell whatever megalomaniac who replaced Hammond that this time I hope _he_ gets eaten,” Ian said and slammed the door. 

~*~

“Mom, pleeeeeease,” Charlie wheedled. “Pleeeeeeeease.” 

“No,” Ellie said. “Not now and not ever.” 

“But it’s been _years_ since it opened, mom. YEARS. They have the best security _in the world_. I’ll do the dishes. I’ll do the dishes for the rest of my _life_. Pleeeeease.” 

“This is not a discussion. This is me, saying no, and if you keep asking then I will tell you all about the time a velociraptor nearly bit off my head and ate the man with me!” 

Charlie paused. “TELL US,” Joey yelled, bouncing excitedly. “WAS THERE BLOOD? DO YOU HAVE A SCAR?” 

Ellie threw her hands up in disgust. There were times when she almost thought Alan had the right idea. 

~*~

_In breaking news, we have reports coming out of Isla Nubla, the island resort home to the Jurassic World theme park, of at least one dinosaur escaping its enclosure. We have no additional details on what kind of dinosaur it was or any scale of the breakout but social media has noted that the island appears to have gone ‘dark’, with no new tweets or Instagram pictures having been posted for over an hour. Attempts to reach the island itself have been unsuccessful but the Coastguard and local ships in the area are reporting they have had no request for evacuation of the thousands of guests. We will keep you up to date with this story as it develops._

~*~

Claire and Owen stayed seated on the ship after it finally docked on the mainland, content to let those around them rush off instead. Claire could hear some of them weeping as they stepped onto the dock, the depth of their emotion telling her more than words just how scared they had been that they would die. And oh god, how many didn’t make it? She hadn’t stayed. She had been numb to everything except for Zach and Gray and just getting them to safety; getting them to her sister. 

“Let’s…” Owen started, as two large men in tactical uniforms stepped through the door. 

“Claire Dearing?” 

“What do you want with her?” Owen asked at the same time as she said, “Yes?” 

One of the men stepped forward slightly, “Ms Dearing, we’ve been asked to collect you for holding. You are not currently under arrest, as no one can figure out whose jurisdiction you belong to, but there are a lot of people who would like you to answer some questions for us.” 

“She’s not going anywhere without me,” Owen said with deadly quiet and she absently patted his arm, because honestly what was he going to do, fight them? 

“That’s fine, sir,” said the other man, “I’m sure they’ll want to ask you some questions too.” 

~*~

_We’re continuing our on-going coverage of the Jurassic World catastrophe, where the death toll is at thirty people thus far with many more missing and feared dead. As survivors are finally being brought from the island their devices have been reaching mobile networks for the first time and social media has been updating with messages and communications from those hellish missing hours. We are advising that some of this content is disturbing and may not be suited for younger viewers._

~*~

“Dr Grant! Dr Grant, is it true you warned Simon Masrani about the dangers of a similar incident to that at Jurassic Park or Isla Sorna?” 

“Get that out of my face. And no, I didn’t warn him. He came to my house and offered me tickets. I punched him in the face without a word. Now get off my door step!” 

~*~

_“What we have here is a complete failure of risk management, emergency procedures, business continuity planning and management, and these factors have directly led to the avoidable deaths of both staff and visitors. Someone has to be held accountable!”_

_“InGen and the Masrani Global Corporation have said that they are both holding their own investigations into potential failures in those areas--”_

_“Not good enough! We need an independent authority to investigate how this Park was operating! Ideograph has offered their services and I think the US government should throw its support behind them. As you know they were invited to tender for the security and technological systems and their CEO is the granddaughter of John Hammond and survivor of the first Jurassic Park for fuck’s sake--”_

_“Jake, I have to remind you that while this is an emotional topic we are in fact live on the air.”_

_“Apologies. I forgot that we can air a Snapchat of a man being torn apart by a pterodactyl but swearing could offend viewers.”_

~*~

“Is what Kelly said true?” 

“Hi Timmy, how are you? Because I’m doing okay considering, so thanks so much for asking. I assume I picked up the phone too late and you’d already asked, right?” 

Tim sighed in exasperation. “Hey Lexie, I’m glad you’re well!” He waited a whole second, “And are you well because Kelly was right and the President has accepted your offer?” 

“You know, Kelly’s pretty chatty for someone who works in the White House,” said Lex. 

“Only to me. And so that’s a yes.” 

Lex sighed. “Yes.” 

Tim took a slow breath. “You’ll be going onto the island.” 

“Maybe,” Lex hedged. “If I need to.” 

“God, Lex. Do you feel guilty or something? Because you didn’t take the job and you feel like you could have stopped it? Because they were idiots and there’s no way you could have stopped it.” 

“Thanks Tim,” said Lex. “No. I’m glad we didn’t take it; I can’t even imagine how awful I’d feel if we had. But our family created InGen, Tim and I have to help them find out what _they_ did.” 

Tim was quiet for a while. “Just don’t get eaten, ‘k?” 

“Okay Tim.” 

~*~

_THE PRESIDENT: “As you know, a week ago today an incident occurred at a popular destination for many American and international families, Jurassic World, which has resulted in the deaths of over 100 staff and visitors, with still more missing and presumed dead. The Costa Rican government has requested assistance in determining the sequence of events that transpired and if this cause or causes could have been prevented from resulting in such extensive loss of life._

_To that end, today I am announcing that the US State Department will be rendering assistance in the investigation, and we will be accepting the offer personally made by Lex Murphy, CEO of Ideograph, to contract for their assistance in examining the technology and security which was meant to keep those visitors safe._

~*~

A knock at the door had Owen’s head jerk up suddenly, gazing at the door with obvious suspicion. The knock repeated. "Claire Dearing?”

Owen threw some commando hand gesture her way and Claire rolled her eyes, but didn’t object as he headed towards the door. They were staying in a hotel in San José and had been since their ship had made dock, waiting for something though she wasn’t sure what. So far they had moved hotels three times and media hadn’t found them; too busy interviewing survivors for blow-by-blows of beaks and raptors but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen eventually. Owen quietly slipped the peephole cover aside and peered through. 

“Who’s asking?” he said, after a moment. 

“My name is Lex Murphy, I’m CEO of Ideograph--”

“Oh my god,” said Claire, jumping up. She hastily opened a drawer in the room’s little kitchenette and swept a collection of cutlery & take out boxes in plastic bags inside. It made a loud clatter, but Claire paid it no mind, spinning on her heel and surveying the rest of the room. She darted over to the bed and hastily fixed up the covers a little more. 

“Are you done?” Owen asked, “Or would you like me to send her away so you can have housekeeping come through?” 

Claire brushed her clothes down once more, ignoring his quip. “I’m ready; you can open the door.” 

Owen opened the door and stepped back with an exaggerated bow. 

Lex Murphy stepped into the room. She was blonde, a little taller than average even in flats, with a smile that said she’d heard everything. She was wearing a suit tailored in the same style as the one set to Claire’s desktop wallpaper but in a deep red. 

Claire darted forward, offering her hand. “Ms Murphy, it’s an honour to meet you, even under these circumstances.” 

Taking her offered hand, Lex smiled and said, “Call me Lex, please. I saw your keynote on women and personal branding; very interesting.” 

“I had no idea, thank you,” Claire said breathlessly. The two women paused for a long moment until, having given Claire’s hand one final squeeze, Lex turned back towards Owen, “And you must be Owen.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

The two women sat down at the tiny table and Owen perched himself nearby on the edge of the bed. 

“Before we start,” Lex began, “let me be the first to congratulate the two of you on surviving both a T-Rex _and_ velociraptors, because I know no one has stopped to talk about just how difficult that is. It’s an exclusive club, but as my brother Tim says, its benefits are utterly rubbish.” 

Claire gave her a wan smile and Lex continued. “I’m sure you heard the President’s address and that my company has been contracted to help extract and analyse data from the computer systems and hardware.” 

“Yes,” Claire said, “and I want to help you in any way that I can.” 

Lex smiled. 

~*~

_The first civil lawsuit in relation to the tragedy of Jurassic World has been filed, with the plaintiff contending that safety specifications only allow a maximum of 50 pterodactyls in the Avery. The statement of claim states that had breeding restrictions been followed the island’s security would have been able to resolve the situation without loss of life. I think it is no coincidence that they are seeking 50 million in damages relating to the loss of their five loved ones._

~*~

Over the next week Claire and Lex worked closely together. Claire pieced together a timeline and Lex made notes, sending off email after email and collecting files from Claire’s phone. 

“I thought it was meant to be locked,” Claire remarked after Lex did… something and started downloading every attachment Claire had ever received. 

“Baby, they haven’t _invented_ a lock that can keep me out,” Lex said, deadpan. “But I actually invented this lock.” 

Claire laughed and then looked a little surprised she had. 

“Hey,” Lex said gently, “you’re going to have to forgive yourself eventually, you know.” 

She took a shaky breath. “You’ve seen the timeline. There’s a lot to forgive.” It was the first time she had said those words to herself. She had been focusing on just getting through one moment to the next for so long. “I don’t need to turn the TV back on to know they’re calling for my head.” 

Lex nodded. “I’m not going to lie to you, Claire; there will be civil suits; maybe even criminal, and this won’t be going away for a really long time. But I’m going to send you the name of my grandfather’s lawyer and you will get through this…” 

Later, after Owen had headed back to his room or to the gym, Claire was never sure which, Claire and Lex sat on the bed finishing off some tostones, which Claire hadn’t yet tried. 

“When we were on the island… That is, when my brother and I visited the first Jurassic Park, and that T-Rex came for us… Well, my grandfather sent all of the security we had left on the island to try and find us, and they never came back.” 

Lex lay back onto her back and gazed vacantly at the ceiling. “Tim and I were in an automated car on some kind of monorail, and when the power cut out it just wouldn’t _move_. The radios were out and we didn’t have cellphones, so we were _terrified_. We started going through everything in the car looking for… I don’t even know what. But we found these flashlights, huge ones, and I remember feeling so relieved because it was so _dark_.”

She took a steadying breath. “Sometimes I think we turned them on so we could see it coming, you know? Just so we knew where it _was_ , but what we didn’t realise was…” 

“It’s attracted to movement,” Claire finished quietly. 

“Yeah. If we had just _stayed still_ it would have just left, those men would have found us in that car, but instead…” 

Claire slid down from her seat near the headboard and lay on her back too. Tentatively she put her hand over Lex’s. “It’s not your fault,” she said quietly. 

“It is,” Lex said just as soft, “but it is and it isn’t.” She stroked her thumb against Claire’s gently. “It’s not your fault either.” 

Lex rolled onto her side and brushed away a tear from Claire’s cheek with her free hand. “If it had never happened I would never have got here. A few years later I accepted a scholarship to MIT 2 years early because even with raptors trying to break through the door I was still faster at reading code than my grandfather’s best and brightest and I _knew_ it. And after facing resurrected lizard bird monsters even hedge fund managers and angel investors didn’t seem so bad.” 

~*~

_InGen’s business relationship with insurers Berkshire Hathaway began under John Hammond and has been difficult from the outset, with continual frustrations & systematic failures, culminating in the death of Mr Donald Gennaro._

_In the creation of Jurassic World we also note that no process for retrieval, destruction or capture of the assets was documented or process mapped with clear safety guidelines until after project Isla Sorna was completed. If a risk management framework had existed at the beginning it may have been possible to reduce or eliminate the deaths of 6 rangers, and the injury of 4 others. This early failure is indicative of apathetic processes and policies that eventually resulted in visitor deaths and the closing of Jurassic World…_

Draft report, leaked online 8 weeks after the events of Isla Sorna.

~*~

During the helicopter ride back to the island no one was talking. Owen looked determined, Claire was stone-faced and Lex was just pale. Claire’s leg, clad in jeans and wearing boots for once, was pressed against Lex’s. The three of them didn’t look at each other. 

As they flew closer the full scope of the destruction came into view. Fences were ruined across the landscape; the promenade was completely demolished, with barely a shop left standing. Claire heard Lex take a sharp intake of breath and thought maybe she was seeing the remains of the green zones or the last remaining T-Rex wandering beyond the secure perimeter. 

Finally as the helicopter set down Owen broke the tension. “This is your first time back here since, isn’t it? None of the survivors ever visited - I remember a girl in PR complaining about it once.” 

Lex nodded, thin-lipped. Claire gripped her hand. 

Owen hesitated and then said, “I read the books before I started, you know? Thought I should know about the worst case scenarios. If I read it right then that makes you one of three who has ever come back, and the only one to do it voluntarily.” 

“Thanks, Owen,” Lex said after a moment and Claire smiled at him. 

He shrugged uncomfortably. “I’ve seen marines balk at raptors. Not you guys, I’m sure,” he said, gesturing to the marine pilot and the man next to him, “I’m sure you’re good. I’m just saying. We’re sticking together. Now… which way is the server thing you need to get to?” 

“Not just the server room,” said Lex, “We’re going to InGen.” 

~*~

_After fully investigating the hardware, security and facilities found at ‘Jurassic World’, the results have shown us not, as the Masrani Global Corporation or InGen would have us believe, a tragically unavoidable accident, but easily preventable oversights with catastrophic outcomes. The latest report lists over 30 points of failure that culminated in this tragic event. In this day and age we have little sympathy for someone with their birthday as their bank PIN, and yet MGC and InGen would have us believe it’s acceptable for a maintenance door code to be the same code as the door for a twenty foot tall dinosaur entrance. It just isn’t. In this instance two factor authentication, say a man on the ground and one in the control room, could have saved over a hundred lives and prevented the injury of hundreds more._

_Huffington Post, 1 year anniversary of the closure of Jurassic World._

~*~

“… in the matter of The United States vs Claire Dearing, we find the defendant not guilty on all charges.” 

Beside Claire her ancient lawyer nodded appreciatively. “Well worth coming out of retirement for, I think,” he said with satisfaction. Claire could only just hear him over the ringing in her ears. She stood abruptly and swung around and there was Lex, already just on the other side of the barrier and reaching for her. She hugged her tightly, half pulling her over. “It’s over,” someone said, and Claire wasn’t sure if it was her or Lex. 

Straightening herself up, Lex looked across the courtroom. Not everyone was celebrating – there were women openly weeping, and her heart clenched for them – but there was Tim, sitting next to Kelly, Billy and smiling widely – the space on his other side where Lex had been glued for the whole duration. In the back nearer to the hordes of photographers was Owen, who gave her a thumbs up. She rolled her eyes with amusement, which she guessed was the point. 

Court security was starting to usher her away from the table and towards one of the exits so she snagged Lex’s hand, not caring for once about the ridiculous flashes from a hundred cameras and tugged Lex along with her. 

In the quiet of the back corridor Claire pulled Lex close again. 

“I couldn’t have done this without you, Lex.” 

Lex pulled back slightly, giving her a small smile. “No, I’m sure you--” and then she stopped talking because Claire was kissing her softly and so carefully, like she wasn’t sure of her welcome. Lex kissed her back, firmer. 

After a long while Claire gave her one final kiss and pulled back. “Oh my god,” she said after a moment. 

“Thank you?” 

“No, I mean, not about that. Well _yes_ about that, but I mean oh my god what am I going to do? I don’t have a job and no one is suing me. I’m going to have to update my CV and I think just about everyone defriended me on LinkedIn, what am I even going to do…?” 

Lex laughed and started pulling her towards the exit where she knew everyone, even Alan, would be waiting to go celebrate. 

“Claire,” Lex said, and when that didn’t stop the rant she leaned in again to kiss her, which did. “Claire, I’m pretty sure I can find you an opening.” 

~*~

_And finally, tonight, InGen and its parent company Masrani Global Corporation have filed for receivership just three weeks after being found guilty of corporate manslaughter._

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to L & C, who maintained that this fic was a good idea even when it was a detailed explanation of 30 key risk management failures.


End file.
